CloudBees, Inc., has announced a $23.5 million financing round, led by longtime CloudBees investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. Existing investors Matrix Partners, Verizon Ventures and Blue Cloud Ventures also participated in the round.
The latest funding announcement follows earlier rounds of $4 million, $10.5 million and $10.8 million, bringing the total investment in CloudBees to just under $50 million since the company’s inception in 2010. Previous venture investment rounds were led by Matrix Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Verizon Ventures with participation from Blue Cloud Ventures, JBoss alumni Bob Bickel and Marc Fleury, and Ed Bugnion, co-founder of VMware.
Recently, Forrester analyst Rick Holland brought up the point of quality vs. quantity when it comes to threat indicators. We agree, the focus should never be on the quantity of data, it should be on the quality of data. So the question becomes, where and how can you gather or make sense of this quality threat intelligence?
In recurring revenue models, maximizing customer lifetime value (CLV) is achieved through establishing a lifetime of customer interaction points as each provides an opportunity to win revenue and loyalty. While the previous two posts in this CLV miniseries focused on the definition of CLV and how to boost CLV, today we’ll dive into how to maximize CLV through customer interactions.
The beauty of recurring revenue models is the abundance of opportunities a company has to create these customer interaction points. From an upgrade to an upsell and customer service to customer promotions, there are various ways to connect with customers and maximize CLV.
For example, consider how you can interact with customers after they make a purchase. Remember, a key tactic to increasing CLV is a focus on recurring revenue rather than one-time sales transactions. So rather than simply sending an automated summary of the purchase, build in some personalized recommendations for other products. While they may not purchase another item at that exact moment, 84% of customers report that personalization impacts customer retention and loyalty. They are more likely to purchase from you again in the future when they feel a personal connection.
We are all here because we are sold on the transformative promise of The Cloud. But what good is all of this ephemeral, on-demand infrastructure if your usage doesn’t actually improve the agility and speed of your business? How must Operations adapt in order to avoid stifling your Cloud initiative?
In his session at DevOps Summit, Damon Edwards, co-founder and managing partner of the DTO Solutions, will highlight the successful organizational, process, and tooling patterns of high-performing companies that have reshaped their Operations to enable the business to get full value from their Cloud investment.
Cloud computing started a technology revolution; now DevOps is driving that revolution forward. By enabling new approaches to service delivery, cloud and DevOps together are delivering even greater speed, agility, and efficiency. No wonder leading innovators are adopting DevOps and cloud together!
In his session at DevOps Summit, Andi Mann, Vice President of Strategic Solutions at CA Technologies, explored the synergies in these two approaches, with practical tips, techniques, research data, war stories, case studies, and recommendations on how to:
Embrace, source, consume, and expose shared services across the SDLC
Apply automation lessons from the cloud to deliver ‘software-defined everything’
Accelerate time from ideation to release for new applications and services
Drive service efficiency and scalability while better managing cost and risk
Establish more effective feedback loops, from pre-planning to post-production
Secure rapid access to cloud infrastructure, platform, and software services
Whether you are a startup or an enterprise; using private cloud, public cloud, or no cloud; an Agile n00b or a DevOps pro; struggling with core banking systems, or building a new social/local/mobile app that will change the world (!); this session provides actionable ideas on using cloud and DevOps together to revolutionize your software and service delivery lifecycle.
Whenever people discuss DevOps they always speak of a “Wall of Confusion” between development and operations, and while there is certainly a barrier to understanding it’s more than just a “wall.” I see it more as a “canyon of distrust” or a “gulf of miscommunication.” These are all just creative ways of identifying that there is misalignment between development-focused and operation-focused parts of the IT department. On a very simple level development tends to focus on revenue growth while operations focuses on revenue protection. One side is resistant to change and risk and the other exists only to introduce change and risk – bridging these two worldviews is the constant promise of DevOps.Here’s how I model this disconnect: as a series of roles distributed along a spectrum of development and operations. The farther apart two job roles are on this spectrum the more difficult it is for individuals to communicate about software risk management and releases.
Three technologies that will change the face of the world are realistic, present and growing. Revolutionary in nature, these technologies have not reached their pinnacle yet but are growing quite significantly.
Predicted to become a $200 billion industry by 2020, the cloud is now reaching a stable stage of growth. As a cloud advocate I work within the industry and can comfortably say that everything about the cloud is growing at a significant pace. This includes smaller verticals and specializations within the cloud, not to mention Business Intelligence, analytics, and other cloud-powered platforms and services
Cloud-based document storage has become surprisingly inexpensive over the years, with some providers offering storage for less than one cent per terrabyte, and in many cases free accounts with 10 or 20 Gigs of storage space on the cloud. I would agree that free storage is actually convenient when it comes to being able to upload documents, data, files photos and a bunch of other stuff to the cloud and downloading it where you want, when you want. Things are looking pretty positive for the consumer. Life is good!
As we enter 2015, it is time to dust off the crystal ball once again for our annual predictions forecast. The parade of new technology innovations and breakthroughs is unfolding across many fronts. In some cases the convergence of technologies themselves provides the breakthrough. The cloud, Internet of Things, mobile platforms, social media, Big Data and analytics, vertical-specific marketplaces and even wearables all have a part to play to transform industry and society and shape the new global economy.